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Jonas Brothers still appeal to hardcore admirers: Concert review

The seats were emptier than in past years at the Amphitheatre on Thursday night, but the fans that were there still fanned the flames of Jonas affection with enviable loyalty.

The fans were there for the Jonas Brothers, but the crowds were smaller than in past years. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

The Jonas Brothers performed a well-paced show on Thursday night. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Fri., July 19, 2013

Jonas Brothers

Molson Amphitheatre

3 stars out of 4

Nick Krewen Special to the Star

Old loves die hard.

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In their heyday four or five years ago, New Jersey’s Jonas Brothers were so popular that they probably could have filled two or three Molson Amphitheatres with the carefully Disney-cultivated audience of youngsters who were targeting the trio as their first crushes.

But, as history has proven time and again, these types of interim infatuations usually hit walls after a brief but intense period of time, and Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas were no exception: they were done like dinner even before 2009’s Lines, Vines and Trying Times hit iTunes’ digital shelves, moving from “hot” to “not” in a matter of months.

The reasons for the Jonas burnout could be attributed to everything from oversaturation to fickle public tastes to girls moving on to the anti-Jonas, Justin Bieber, but if recent sellout concerts by a revived New Kids On The Block and, a few years back, a rejuvenated Backstreet Boys, have taught us anything, is that girls often hold soft spots for their musical pin-up poster boys.

So maybe there were a lot of seats lacking posteriors to fill them at the Amphitheatre on Thursday night, but the 7,000 or 8,000 that were there still fanned the flames of Jonas affection with enviable loyalty, singing every word of every song as if their lives depended on it.

These core admirers were rewarded by a grown up Jonas performance that was paced pretty well: backed by a seven-piece band, two of the trio – Joe and Kevin—made their grand entrances through the audience before embarking on a no-nonsense, 80-minute set.

A side note – it was Kevin, surrounded by security, with a guitar wrapped around him that came within mere centimetres of this writer in the 300 section as he made his way down the stairs. In earlier years, it would have meant a serious trampling. On this night, however, it meant nearly being bowled over by a couple of 12-year-olds beside me who squealed in delight at the prospect of being in such close proximity to a Jonas that they forgot to man their cell phone cameras.

Commencing with “First Time,” a new single from their forthcoming album V, and moving seamlessly through Lines’ “Paranoid” and another newbie in “Pom Poms,” the Jonas three were consistently drowned out by their paying makeshift choir.

And that’s how they rolled for the night – occasionally switching instruments (Nick Jonas ventured from guitar to piano to drums; Joe to piano; Kevin stuck with guitar) and previewed a lot of material from V.

Even the faithful who liked Nick’s solo project The Administration chimed in, carrying pieces of paper marked “Who I Am” with their written identity in the back, and thrusting it up proudly as the song of the same name was paraded before them with an accompanying video that had filmed characters holding up their own declarations.

It was serious stuff to these JoBros fans, God bless ‘em, who ogled and applauded their surprisingly charisma-free charges relentlessly.

So the rebuilding and rebranding of the Jonas Dynasty is upon us.

Because the trio plays their own instruments and write some of their own material, they could be one of those artists who, like Justin Timberlake, successfully transitions from teen pop idol to adult music star.

You’ve been warned.

They already have their dedicated disciples, a small armada whom were at the Molson Amphitheatre.

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